FUNCTION of cities is an exciting challenge. Consider the much-discussed “fifteen-minute city”, so-named because citizens can reach all essential services within that time frame. The 2021 edition of Utopian Hours, Italy’s first city-making festival, has even posited “a-thousand-minute city”, defined not by space but by citizens’ social engagement and the sharing of goods and information. This is a concept of city as mind and soul instead of just a place — civitas as opposed to urbs. The rise of a socially conscious architecture that fights against inequalities entails an unavoidable question: how are we supposed to live together, sharing goods and opportunities equally? The Venice Pavilion at the 2021 International Architecture Exhibition attempted to find an answer by presenting alternative spaces. Once again, we see architecture taking on an essential role in the evolution process towards complex and inclusive societies, where the right of every human being to have a home, a job, adequate services, and opportunities for improvement is fully realized. 15 architecture for the people EXCERPT
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODUwMjE2